IBM has introduced several updates to its software development platform, IBM Bob, focusing on multi-agent capabilities, enhanced analytics, and pre-built workflows to support enterprise modernisation projects.
The company announced these developments as organisations seek to integrate AI across all stages of software engineering.
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The updated platform now includes Bobalytics, a built-in feature offering visibility into usage and costs, designed to help teams monitor AI consumption and optimise resources.
This aims to address issues faced by enterprise engineers, who often manage AI models manually and struggle with unpredictable costs and inconsistent outcomes.
IBM Bob has also added the ability for AI models to request and run several tools in parallel, as well as the use of subagents to manage complex tasks within isolated contexts.
IBM said that this approach helps keep response times fast and costs under control as software projects become more complex.
The technology has already been adopted in sectors with significant legacy systems.
Jack Henry, a provider of financial services technology, has used IBM Bob to manage and modernise extensive RPG codebases.
Jack Henry chief technical architect Kevin Sligar said: “Using IBM Bob, our developers are able to accelerate RPG development workflows, improve code quality, and gain deeper insights into decades of accumulated system knowledge while gaining efficiency in enhancement efforts.”
Blue Pearl, a consulting and cloud solutions company, has applied IBM Bob to a modernisation initiative.
Blue Pearl group CEO Saireshan Govender said: “We introduced IBM Bob to a legacy modernisation program, an effort originally projected to take nine months with 14 engineers was completed in just three days.
“The most powerful outcome wasn’t the speed – it was the combination of operational efficiency, cost optimisation, and real-world results we could trust and build on.”
IBM Automation and AI GM Neel Sundaresan said: “Bob is the platform enterprise customers have been asking for. The bar for enterprise AI is no longer a better coding assistant.
“It’s an end-to-end agentic development partner that works inside any system development teams already use, with the governance, security, and cost controls enterprises require.
“We built Bob to solve the problems enterprises actually have, and the updates we’re announcing today are the foundation for everything that comes next.”
IBM has also released premium packages with pre-configured workflows tailored for the modernisation of IBM Z, IBM i, and Java environments.
These workflows are customisable to ensure consistency and auditability across development teams, addressing challenges in delivering reliable results in high-stakes projects.
Last month, IBM unveiled a semiconductor chip built at the sub-1 nanometre scale, achieving the 0.7 nanometre (7 angstrom) node.
